Thanks
by Eternal Dragon101
Summary: On a lonely night, Elizabeth Webber finds an unlikely ear in Sam McCall. One-shot.


**A/N**: Hi! This is my first fanfic in a LONG time, and my first time writing for GH ever. This fic has been nagging at me for a while ever since I've recently gotten back into GH. I was honestly so surprised to see the hate for Elizabeth and Sam in different parts of this fandom. As someone who enjoys both characters I've always thought the show pitting them against each other was a shame, so this is my somewhat anti-Elizabeth/Sam rivalry response to that. Hope you enjoy! Just some story notes- Elizabeth is not pregnant in this and she has not gone to Shadybrook. Reviews are always, always appreciated, but not required!

Elizabeth Webber was not having a good night. Truth be told she was not having a good year. Sighing, she stared down at her drink. Here she was on a Saturday night, at Jake's, by herself drinking away her sorrows. Steve had opted to watch over Cam and Jake for the night and **this **is what Elizabeth had chosen to do. Pathetic. She was depressed, utterly depressed- the love of your life catching you sleeping with his brother tended to do that to a person.

Gulping down the rest of her beer, she caught a glimpse of a small brunette entering the bar. Sam. Elizabeth crouched down her stool, willing Sam not to see her, but it was too late- Sam was already making her way over.

"Coleman, an Irish Coffee please."

"Coming right up little lady."

Sam rolled her eyes at him and turned to look at her.

"Elizabeth…hi," Sam said hesitantly.

"Hi."

"Look," Elizabeth blurted out, "I'm sorry about how I acted at Jake's the other day-"

"Hey- no," Sam interrupted, "you don't owe me any apologies. Ever."

She watched as Coleman gave Sam her drink. "Elizabeth," Sam turned to look at her while fishing in her pockets for some money, "I know we've never been friends," Elizabeth laughed at that- no they certainly hadn't, "but you look kind of…"

"Miserable?"

Sam raised her eyebrows- "Well I was going to say you look kind of down."

"To say the least," Elizabeth replied.

"I was wondering," Sam continued, "if you would maybe want to have a drink with me?"

Elizabeth looked at her disbelievingly.

"Um, I'm a good listener?" Sam offered sheepishly, suddenly looking self-conscious. She stared at Sam, waiting for her to burst out laughing, but she didn't.

Elizabeth surprised herself (and Sam by the look on her face) by answering- "yes, yes I would."

"Alright," Sam smiled, "Coleman can you get Elizabeth here another-"

"Beer."

"Another beer," Sam nodded her head over to an empty table. "Let's sit."

Elizabeth followed her, pulling out a chair for herself. "So," Sam started, "how are you?"

"Me? Oh I'm peachy, life just couldn't get _any _better."

"That bad huh?"

"Yeah," Elizabeth sighed again, she was doing a lot of that these days, "I'm sure you've heard about Nikolas and I- the whole town has." She couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice.

"Yeah I do know, I've known for a while actually," Sam's gaze dropped down to the table, "Jason saw you and Nikolas kissing after the carnival, at the hospital. "

"Oh that's just great," Elizabeth threw her hands up in frustration, but quickly put them back down when the waitress serving her drink shot her a look, "never mind, it doesn't really matter now does it?"

Sam didn't answer.

"So let me hear it."

"Hear what?"

"You know, how I'm a slut, a whore, a tramp, a homewr-"

"Stop!" Sam's voice startled Elizabeth's out of her rant, "Elizabeth, don't talk about yourself like that."

"A few years ago you would have been jumping at the chance to tear into me."

"Yeah I would have, but there are a lot of things I did and said a few years ago that I'm not proud of."

An awkward silence fell in between them.

"Well Lulu certainly thinks so." Elizabeth took a sip from her beer, "Lucky does too. And I can't help but think they're right."

"I like Lulu, but she has no place to judge you after what that whole fiasco with Georgie and Dillon all those years ago now does she? And Lucky, you know I care about him, and I know he's hurting right now, but that doesn't give him a right to call you names."

"Yes it does. Sam, I slept with his brother. I betrayed him. Again."

"What do you mean again?"

"You know… after what happened with Jason."

"Oh come on Elizabeth," Sam shook her head, "what happened that summer, we all share some of the blame. Jason shouldn't have pushed me out of his life and I shouldn't have slept with Ric. You and Jason shouldn't have slept with each other, but then Lucky shouldn't have been on drugs and sleeping with Maxie either. And I told Lucky after he got sober that you had no right to judge him for his past mistakes, and he has no right to judge you for yours, especially when he had a part in them. I know I blamed you for a lot of went on back then, but I was wrong. I was blinded by the pain and anger after what had happened between me and Jason, and you were an easy target."

"But it didn't just stop at Jason and I sleeping with each other and you know that. I kept the truth about Jake from Lucky for so long. It's no wonder he hates me." Elizabeth closed her eyes tightly, shutting back the tears that were threatening to spill out.

"Lucky doesn't hate you, he never could. He's angry, he's hurt, and I'm sure he's lashing out at you right now, but he doesn't hate you. And what happened with Jake…at the time like I said, I was so blinded by my fury I couldn't see that while lying about Jake wasn't right, you were just scared that something was going to happen to him. After what happened with Michael, I don't blame you."

Elizabeth looked at Sam in shock, she had never expected for her to understand why she had decided to lie about Jake. Not after everything that had happened. "Wow Sam…I'm speechless. You have no idea how much I appreciate you saying that."

Sam smiled. "These past couple of years I've gained more than just self-respect, I have more perspective now too. Without it I don't know if Jason and I could have gotten back together. "

"I'm happy for you guys, honestly. Lucky and I on the other hand…" Elizabeth gripped her bottle tightly, "I don't think there's any hope for us, not after what I've done with Nikolas. I just had to mess everything up."

"Elizabeth you cannot beat yourself up like this forever," Sam finished the last of her coffee and then set it down, gazing at her, "what you and Nikolas did was wrong, but it happened and now you have to learn to live with it. I've been where you are, believe me I've done worse, and you have to accept that you did something wrong and move on because otherwise you'll get stuck, stuck in the guilt and in the bitterness. That's not a fun place to be. I'm sure you know that already."

"I do," Elizabeth replied, remembering how terrible the last month had been for her.

"Then let it go. You have to. And after some time passes you can make amends, but before you do that, before you can ask for forgiveness from anyone, Elizabeth," Sam placed a hand on hers, "you have to forgive yourself, okay? You have to forgive yourself."

Elizabeth choked back a sob as Sam squeezed her hand. That was the problem above all others- Elizabeth hadn't forgiven herself. She was horrified by what she had done. The pain she caused...the pain she felt- she was drowning in it. But she knew she had to pull herself out of it, for Steve, for Cam and Jake, for Lucky, for herself.

The comfortable silence that had now fallen between Sam and her was broken by the ring of a cell phone.

"Oh that's me," Sam looked down at her phone, "I'm sorry, I've gotta take this. It's a client."

"It's fine," Elizabeth smiled again, wiping back a lone tear that had slipped out, "you've listened to me blabber enough for one night."

"You weren't blabbering and I liked talking to you." Sam looked around, spotted a napkin and quickly jotted something down on it. "Here this is my number, if you ever want to talk again or whatever, just give me a call okay?" And with that she got up and started to leave the bar.

"Sam," Elizabeth called out.

"Yeah?" Sam turned her head to look back at her.

"Thanks."

End.


End file.
